ABSTRACT

DURING the century following the death of Asoka, interest centres on the north-western threshold of India, as it had done in Alexander's time nearly a hundred years before. The Mauryas grow weak and soon their rule is confined to Magadha. They vegetate until, about 185, a "mayor of the palace", as Sylvain Lévi called him, Pushyamitra, sets up in their place his own family, known to history as the Sungas.